NDMTSS Conference
Conference Details & Materials
2026 NDMTSS Conference:
Discover how aligned systems and connected practices create meaningful change for every learner. This year’s NDMTSS Conference brings together inspiring national keynote speakers, ND-focused breakout sessions, and hands-on opportunities designed to strengthen teaching, leadership, and teamwork across the state.
Join educators, leaders, and teams from across North Dakota for three dynamic days of learning, collaboration, and practical application – each crafted to support the real needs of North Dakota schools and students. With daily end-of-day workshop sessions, you’ll not only learn new strategies but also apply them immediately, ensuring every participant leaves with ready-to-use tools.
June 15-17, 2026
Holiday Inn, Fargo, ND
Registration Closes June 2
What You’ll Gain:
- Aligned Strategies for Impact: Clear, actionable ways to align MTSS practices across academic, behavior, and SEL supports.
- Effective Implementation Tools: Evidence-based models, resources, and steps to strengthen implementation at all levels.
- Inspiration from National Experts: Insights and approaches from leading voices in MTSS, instruction, and school improvement.
- ND-Relevant Learning: Sessions tailored specifically to the strengths, needs, and priorities of North Dakota educators and schools.
- Hands-On Application: Daily workshop sessions where you’ll practice, plan, and apply new learning – turning ideas into action.
- Stronger Professional Connections: Opportunities to collaborate and network with colleagues from across the state.
- A Renewed Sense of Purpose: Clarity, confidence, and direction for strengthening systems that support every student, every day.
Conference Resources
- Conference Packet
- Conference Schedule
- Credit Information
- Hotel Room Block Information
- Session Materials
- View All Sessions
Featured Speakers
Learn from national experts:
Dr. Sarah Brown
Bio
Sarah Brown, Ph.D. is the President of System Impact Consulting and co-author of the books, Effective Universal Instruction: An Action-Oriented Approach to Improving Tier 1 and MTSS for Reading Improvement: A Leaders’ Tool Kit for Schoolwide Success. During her career, Dr. Brown has had experience leading teams focused on high-quality customer education at FastBridge Learning and Illuminate Education and supporting MTSS and the FastBridge Product at Renaissance. Prior to joining corporate teams, Dr. Brown served in roles including as the Bureau Chief leading special education and MTSS implementation for the state of Iowa, district special education director, professional learning administrator, and school psychologist.
Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden
Bio
Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden is a policy adviser and thought leader who actively conducts research focused on improving learning outcomes for students. She has served as a standing panel member for NIH, IES at the U.S. Department of Education, an adviser and reviewer for NCII, USAID, the IRIS center, the Dyslexia Foundation, and numerous state departments of education. Dr. VanDerHeyden has authored a number of policy guides and position statements, and delivered testimony on the use of Multi-Tier Systems of Support (MTSS) MTSS and Response to Intervention (RTI) to identify students for special education. She is credited with developing models of academic screening that are widely used in schools, conducting innovative research in mathematics screening and progress monitoring using mastery measurement, and the creation of SpringMath. Dr. VanDerHeyden is President of Education Research & Consulting in Fairhope, Alabama, and has a faculty affiliation with the Wheelock College of Education at Boston University.
Kari Chitty
Bio
Kari Chitty is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with a background in special education, behavior support, and K–12 systems improvement. She currently works with Behavior Advantage, supporting the clinical development of behavior planning software, providing professional development, and partnering with school teams on assessment, intervention, and progress monitoring. Prior to this role, Kari served in West Fargo Public Schools, North Dakota, as a special education teacher, behavior coach, and district coordinator, where she helped strengthen behavior supports, improve implementation, and build practical systems for students and staff. She also served in the Army and has supported military-connected children and families through professional and volunteer roles, including work with the Military Child Education Coalition. Kari is passionate about helping teams put effective practices into action and is known for her practical, down-to-earth approach to the real challenges of behavior support in schools.
Shannon Harken
Bio
Shannon Harken, M.A.Ed., began her career as an elementary and special education teacher in 1991. She also served as a special education consultant in a problem-solving service delivery system, where she helped school-based teams use data to develop a more efficient, proactive, and systematic process to meet the needs of all students. Shannon currently works as an RtI Professional Learning and Leadership Consultant (PLLC) for Heartland AEA 11.
Based on her experiences, teaching background, and knowledge from experts in the field, Shannon has spent the last 10 years, co-authoring and training RtI modules in the areas of consensus building, infrastructure development, and implementation to hundreds of school-based teams across the country interested in implementing RtI. She also has co-developed several organizational tools, such as a four-box format that groups students with similar instructional needs and provides guidance for an appropriate instructional match and action plans, for school-based teams to use as they work towards implementing RtI.
In addition to training new schools Shannon provides on-going follow-up trainings, holds coaches meetings, and assists buildings with data analysis and decision making. The lessons she continually learns while in the “RtI implementation trenches” greatly enhance her work as she strives to assist schools to raise the achievement of all students.
Tricia McKale Skyles
Bio
Tricia McKale Skyles is a senior educational consultant and featured presenter with Randy’s Sprick’s Safe and Civil Schools. After being a classroom teacher, Tricia served as an Instructional Coach with Dr. Jim Knight. Through her initial work with coaching, she assisted teachers in implementing CHAMPS Classroom Management. After moving into the role of Behavior Coach, she began to work extensively with the Safe and Civil Schools library of resources. She now works with SCS to provide training, coaching, and consultation with district and campus leaders, coaches, and classroom teachers. A middle school teacher at heart, Tricia now resides in Rolla, MO, with her family, when she isn’t flying around the country in an aluminum tube.
Dr. Erin Chaparro
Bio
Dr. Erin Chaparro has spent two decades studying what it actually takes to implement MTSS. A Research Associate Professor at the University of Oregon, she has led or co-led more than $10 million in federally funded research, including a current $4 million IES grant training 76 school teams in data-based decision making. She directed Oregon’s statewide MTSS initiative across 22 districts, is an Implementation Partner for the National Center on PBIS, and is co-author of the widely-used textbook Assessment in Special and Inclusive Education. She is also the founding co-editor of the Journal of MTSS, published by the International MTSS Association. In 2024, she founded MTSS Solutions LLC, now serving educators across the country and internationally. Her research and practice focus on the same question: How can evidence-based systems be implemented effectively at scale to benefit students and educators?
